Tenuta Dell'Ornellaia Masseto IGT 2018

Winemaking at Masseto is at the same time an adventure and a continuous discovery. A place where intuition prevails, where no one could be sure that the fragile Merlot could succeed, even if the presence of blue clay from the Pliocene gave a hint. Making Masseto is a balancing act, one feels like a tightrope dancer always on the edge of a precipice. The clayish soils in themselves represent all the contradictions: A capacity to store great amounts of water and to release it very gently. A soil that is cold and wet in a rainy year but gets hard as a rock during a dry summer, creates a shear physical barrier to the roots that struggle to go deep down into the subsoil. A soil in which, with a low planting density, a level of vigour is achieved that would normally be expected from a high-density vineyard. The vines of Masseto seem to be continuously struggling with the elements, frequently at the limit of collapse but somehow always able to resist and develop the fruit of incredible concentration and flavour. A rare combination of lush ripeness and lavish concentration which somehow manages to preserve its complexity and freshness. Each individual vintage expresses its unmistakable Masseto character, but with a slightly different interpretation - just as a masterpiece of music will sound differently according to the artist who plays it.